First place remains in the grasp in four of the Cubs’ eight minor league teams. It all started at the top as Iowa took four straight from Omaha thanks to the efforts of Kris Bryant, Manny Ramirez, Josh Vitters, and Brett Jackson. Tennessee received excellent pitching from Corey Black and Pierce Johnson with support from a resurgent Elliot Soto, Jae-Hoon Ha, and newcomer Kevin Brown.
Daytona stumbled out of first despite the continued efforts of Albert Almora. Kane County maintained first … [Read more...]

Winning seems to be the key word across the minor leagues to start the week as Iowa received excellent pitching performances from Dallas Beeler and Tsuyoshi Wada, while Kris Bryant provided the muscle. Tennessee evened their season record thanks to the hot hitting of Stephen Bruno, Rubi Silva, and Christian Villanueva. Daytona moved into first place with the bats of Albert Almora and Dan Vogelbach coming to life. Meanwhile, Kane County keeps chugging along thanks to Jacob Hannemann and Kyle … [Read more...]

It was all about the First Round Draft Picks as the week ended and the second half began for most of the minor league teams. The Kyle Schwarber-less Boise Hawks have struggled mightily since his promotion, while his new team, the Kane County Cougars, won three out of four as Schwarber hit his first Low-A home run. Last year’s number one pick Kris Bryant has scuffled in a few games but has belted three homers since his promotion. Meanwhile, teammates Javier Baez (2011 first round) had a four RBI … [Read more...]

The “big fly” played a prominent role to end the week in the minors. First Round pick Kyle Schwarber had two round-trippers for Boise and Justin Marra also went deep as the Hawks began their season. Kane County received homers from Yasiel Balaguert, Jordan Hankins, and Jacob Rogers as the Cougars finished the first half of their season. Taylor Davis was able to deliver a pinch-hit home run for Tennessee, while Javier Baez had a game-winner for Iowa.
So look out in the bleachers, as they’re … [Read more...]

Rainy weather caused delays, postponements, and doubleheaders across the minor leagues to begin the week. Pitching seemed to dominate as Kane County received fine efforts from Jen-Ho Tseng, Tyler Skulina, and Daury Torrez. Daytona’s Rob Zastryzny has been pitching better of late, and Eduardo Figueroa did well for Tennessee, while Tsuyoshi Wada continues to chug along in Iowa.
So instead of trying to play 'Find the Ball' during the next rain delay, why not look at today’s Down on the Farm … [Read more...]

Playoff bound! That’s the storyline for the Kane County Cougars who clinched a first half title. Jordan Hankins went 5-for-5 in a game, while Juan Carlos Paniagua struck out nine in another. The Daytona Cubs’ five-game winning streak was snapped but Dan Vogelbach is on a tear and hitting .371/.488/.600 over his last 10 games. It was all or nothing for Tennessee as Eduardo Figueroa and Dae-Eun Rhee were the principals in two shut outs. Meanwhile in Iowa, the offense struggled but ended the week … [Read more...]

All-Star assignments were a big part of the news to start the week as 15 players from the Cubs’ organization will be representing their respective teams with Triple-A yet to be announced. Kane County’s Jose Arias, Paul Blackburn, Jordan Hankins, and Will Remillard were named to Midwest League squad. Gioskar Amaya, Marco Hernandez, Andrew McKirahan, Felix Pena, and Bijan Rademacher are Daytona representatives in the Florida State League and the Southern League made Tennessee players John … [Read more...]

The Cubs’ minor league system saw two of its teams trending the wrong way as Tennessee has lost seven straight despite a homer binge by Kris Bryant, while Daytona has lost five games in a row. Kane County split their four games to end the week as the Cougars received a combined shutout by Justin Amlung, Michael Wagner, and Tyler Bremer. And between the raindrops, Iowa was able to go 2-3 as home runs by Ryan Kalish, Arismendy Alcantara, Christian Villanueva, and Brett Jackson provided the … [Read more...]

The most dominant thing in the news from the Cubs minor leagues at the beginning of the week wasn’t Kris Bryant, but he ran a close second to the rain. Bad weather cancelled and delayed games but didn’t slow down Bryant, who was 6-for-8 with two home runs and two RBI in three games. That did not seem to help Tennessee as they lost three straight while Daytona split a pair as they were rocked by a couple of suspensions. Arismendy Alcantara and Javier Baez homered in a Memorial Day romp for Iowa, … [Read more...]

Kris Bryant and Javier Baez made most of the headlines in the minors at the end of the week as the top two prospects in the system extended their hitting streaks into double digits. Baez continued his streak on Sunday and extended it to ten games with a two-hit performance that included a grand slam. Bryant’s hitting streak came to an end at ten games on Sunday.
There were several excellent pitching performances down on the farm. Juan Carlos Paniagua had an excellent outing while Paul … [Read more...]